Archives for May 2019

I’m now thinking about the next phase of how we are going to photograph the missing 3 that we are still missing.

Here are the statistics of our 3 week trip, the mileages we covered and where we stayed and the light houses we visited …

We woke up feeling totally refreshed and ready to face the last stretch of our journey.  Had some coffee and the last helping of our muesli.  Lucky we are going home today or else tomorrow we will be hungry.

Said our thanks to the ladies for all they did for us.  Said we will be back and we were on the road again.  This is the last stretch of a very long drive.

Found a forest plantation to have some lunch so that we were off the road and safe.

We finally got home around 15:30.  Dad was really happy to see us and Libbie….  She went mad.  A doggie with 3 tails and she did not know what to do with all her excitement.  Nice to feel missed.

Great trip, great adventures, great people, great scenery not to forget about the main reason for the trip ….  All those light houses.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip so positive and so enjoyable.  See you all on the next adventure

Home time today.  We are heading for Kokstad or we will head to Port St Johns to sleep.  We are just too far away to get home in one day.  Let’s see how things go.

We said our good byes and promised we will be back.  We were given some food for the road and we were gone.  This was the earliest we have ever been on the road….  7:30.  Usually we are driving by 10ish.  But we do have a rather long drive ahead.

We drove through lots of road works with stop and go signs.  Nibbled our breakfast and stopped for some coffee.

Later we grabbed some lunch and carried on for some more road and road works.

By 15:00 ish we realised that we would not make

We stopped just before Mthatha to put in some diesel.  There was a Shell petrol station sign with a bed sigh under it.  We both looked at each other and we did question it.  I drove in and all we could see was huge 18 wheeler trucks.  We could not see any where there was a sleeping space.  Then we saw a drive way just in front of the trucks.  We drove in and we decided that this was a good place.  If we drove down to Port St Johns, and back, there would be 4 hours of driving and then all the fuel.  We could not make Kokstad, so we stayed there.  We were also given a R100 voucher for dinner.  We cant ask for anything else.  Pizza and a good sleep.

I was asleep before mom even turned off the light.

We both woke up having had awesome evening and a great nights rest.  Wonder what today has install for us today.

We all had some breakfast and we headed out to a restaurant for some tea.  The Sacramento restaurant.  This restaurant is an amazing place.  All dedicated to the Sacramento ship that was ship wrecked in June 1647.  There were 72 survivors that decided to walk to Mozambique some 1300 km away.  Sad thin it that only 9 people reach Delagoa Bay in 1648.  Terrible loss of life.

That evening we went to the local mall to watch the musical fountains.  Funny thing is that they are not working because they are being renovated and repaired.  I did however take so slow shutter speed photos of the lights on the lake.  A very pretty place.

One day I will be back and I will photograph the fountains then.

We all headed to bed as we leave for home tomorrow morning.  Can’t believe that we have been on the road for nearly 3 full weeks. 

What an amazing evening.  The weather was stunning and we slept with the back of the Van open all night.  Transnet contacted me regarding the access into the Deal Light.  We arrived there and we spent some time photographing the light house.  The area is a bit questionable and I was asked not to venture to far away.  We said thank you and we headed back to Cape Recife

What a stunning light house.  The sand dunes are amazing.  I have never seen anything like this before.  Took our photos and we headed down to the water.  There was a slight breeze and we carried on.  Took of our shoes and we were watching some fish in the shallows.

Then a gale force wind came out of no-where.  Grabbed my camera and hid it under my shirt.  Mom chased after our shoes and we huddles back to the car.  What a hectic moment.  The sand storm was hectic.  I have never seen anything like this ever.

We hid in the car and we headed out.  We landed up with sand everywhere, our eyes had sun glasses on which was a life saver, sand in our ears, noses, hair, under our clothes.  I don’t think I will ever forget that.

What a beautiful day that has turned into something really hectic.

We headed off to our friends for the next 2 nights of our stay in PE.  Clean home, clean beds, and great company.

A great evening with friends.  Chatted late into the night, met a bird (cockatiel called Coco) that stole the evening. 

Headed to bed with a grateful heart knowing that all the 10 light houses have been photographed (2 outstanding), our trip is coming to an end with a positive ending. 

Tomorrow we will chill and relax.

Screamed out of bed for sunrise.  Sad thing was that the sun rose before we could see it.  It happened on the other side of the sand dunes, but we still were on the beach/rocks before it showed its face.

We headed back to the van for coffee and breakfast.  Then I received a very important phone call from Transnet.  I was asked to attend a meeting with regards my lighthouse project.  I was really very excited and we rushed through breakfast and we were on the road by 10.00.

Arrived at the Transnet offices in the PE Harbour and 3 hours later we walked out feeling so positive and motivated with what was discussed.  The future really looks good for me and my book.  More details to follow later.

After meeting we headed back to the beach for some KFC for lunch.  WE were both starving.  Headed off to the Deal lighthouse.  Sadly I was unable to get to it.  Will try again tomorrow to see how to get there.

We then headed to Donkin light house.  This light house is now decommissioned as the city lights have become so intense that the light cannot be seen from the sea.  The pyramid is a monument to Elizabeth Frances Lady Donkin who died in 1818.  Her husband who was devastated by her death built it 1820 in memory of her.  Walking around the light house, there were some amazing mosaic images.  More time is needed to read all the information in this space.  I encourage everyone to take time to look at the area.

We headed to Cape Recife light house, but got there a bit too late and we did not really want to walk around at this late stage of the day.  We will go back tomorrow.

We returned to Willows Caravan Park for a good night’s rest.  Tomorrow we might have some friends who live in PE who want us to come and spend some time with them.  If things don’t work out for us, we will sleep the last few days at Willows.  Will see what happens.

What an amazing day.  I’m so excited to see where this adventure is going to head to.

Going to bed with a very happy heart.

We woke up early to some more heavy mist and fog.  The lighthouse fog horn blasted all night.  So very eerie, but I should think a welcome noise to ships passing by. 

We both jumped out of bed, packed up our goodies and headed out.  Paid for the night, said our good byes and we headed off to the beach for breakfast and the light house.

Short story, we felt pretty safe there with no hassles at all.  Great guys, no parties, no noise, just very chilled. 

We both slept well on our bedding and our duvets.  Did not shower or brush teeth.  We just wanted to get out.  Will I go back….  Maybe yes.

While we were sitting at the beach, eating our muesli, we giggled about the evening and all that happened.  Mist/fog lifted and we finally saw the light house.  What a beautiful light house.  This place in the most south Easterly point of South Africa.  Another first for us.

Spent a long time at the beach picking up shells for my Girl Guides back at home.  Saw lots of fish life, Shrimp, fish, anemones, urchins, sea weed. And so much more.  Such beautiful rocks.

Heading back to PE and the Willows Camp site, we came across the blade of the wind turbine.  Wow, this really gives you such a perspective of the size of these monsters.

Arrived back at Willows.  Great to be back where we can explore this space some more.  Last time we were in a hectic rain cycle and now we can rest.

What a wonderful night at Forever Resorts.  We both wished we could stay a bit longer as this place really had an amazing atmosphere.  While we were eating breakfast there was a Tour Boat traveling up the river telling people about what was visible.  I was thinking they could have said “And on the left side of the river you can see an establishment of mobile and tented homes.  This is a space where these species travel with their dwelling vehicles.  If you look carefully you can see some of them eating the daily food.”  This is rather warped but it was fun thinking about the commentary.

We headed out to Cape St Francis for the next light house.  Stunning weather.

Our accommodation for St Francis has not yet been finalised but we will work on that while we were driving.

Driving we came across a farm that grew Wind Turbines.  The farm was called Kouga Wind Turbine farm.  These types of animals we have never seen before, but they are really increasing in number throughout the Eastern Cape.  Who knows where they will grow to.

We turned onto a dirt road because we knew of a caravan park down this road.  We had looked at our caravan book, and the phone numbers published were no-longer working.  We felt that there should be a number on their sign. 

First Caravan Park said sorry, they have taken the weekend off and there was no camping allowed this weekend.

Not a problem we will head to the next one.  Second Caravan Park said that they had no interest for this weekend, so he gave his staff off for the weekend and no camping allowed.

Stress starting to creep in, third site said they charge over R500 for one night.  We said out of our budget but can they give us pensioner rates of around R200.  He said at that rate he cant be bothered to have any one.

Drove into St Francis and saw a back packers.  Both mom and I were very unsettled about this place and we passed on by.

Now we are getting worried.  We head down to the light house in hope of finding something closer there.  At this point heavy mist and fog has set in and there was no other available accommodation.  We found a Back packers lodge sign on a pole with a phone number.  We called and we got accommodation for the night.  Double story house, ex SA Navy man … how bad can this be.  Well we arrived.

Too very short words … Oh dear … !!!.

We believed that we had been led there and we walked in.  Interesting !!!

Dirty clothes lying everywhere, 3 couched hiding under stuff.  Smell well….  Dirty, unclean, damp.  What are we in for? !! 

Kitchen highly questionable.  The guys rushed into the kitchen to clean so we could make some coffee and cook some dinner, mom cooked some pasta for us for dinner and we scuttled up to our room, where we stayed the rest of the night.

We prayed for protection for the night and we crashed.  Strangely enough we felt very safe and the guys were really sweet. 

Sleep well and trust we are going to be okay.

We left our friends after a great evening and comfy beds.  We are back on the road again.  Today our plan is to photograph light house at Plettenberg.  But first we need to go and see the Knysna heads.  Such a pretty place.  Managed to get to the top and look down.  Mom and I spent quite some time there.  A tourist bus arrived and we headed out because of the crowds. 

Got to a nature reserve where the light house was.  Shock and horror we had about a 4km hike to the light house and a 4 km hike back to the car.  We were totally unprepared for this.  No shoes and no water.  We decided that we will come back to do this.  I will chat to TransNet to see what they do when they have to service this light house.

Time to head for our next place to sleep.  There was no accommodation in Plett that we could afford.   Found a back packers but we decided not to use them.

We landed up at Forever Resorts on the Keurboom River.  A beautiful place.  Wish we could stay longer.

Met a sacred Ibis and we called him Budge…. He had a broken leg that has healed skew.  Very friendly bird who was quite happy to eat out of your hand.

Not much happened to day and we crashed for the night.

Tomorrow we head for Cape St Francis. 

Sleep tight world see you in the morning.

We packed up again feeling ready to face to work again.  Feeling positive about our adventure and the likely hood of good weather and the possibility of photographing the rest of the light houses.

We made some arrangements to pick up the van carpet later on today as it was still wet.  I really did not want to take a wet carpet with us.   We headed out with the desire to get the next batch of light houses.

Had breakfast with friends and they invited us to stay with them for the night.  Wonderful. A dry comfy bed and a free night.  We will have to share a bed, but I think we can survive that.

Headed out to Mossel bay for the day.  Need to photograph Cape St Blaize. 

Drove over the Keimans river bridge.  Stopped to photograph the bridge and the brown lagoon.  So very pretty and very steep.

We arrived at Cape St Blaize .  Met John and he gave me so much information.  We headed up the light house and what a view.  Stunning.  There were 60 steps to the top with 3 levels.  Hectic climb but we did it.  Mom and I will be very fit by the end of this trip.  WE now just need to maintain this fitness.

Mom mentioned to me about the Post Box tree.  So we headed out for that.  Such an amazing tree at the Mossel Bay Museum. 

So to continue with the epics of my trips.  I followed a vehicle into the museum grounds. I did not realise that this was private grounds and that you can’t really park here.  But anyhow, we carried on like we were supposed to be there.  After we finished doing what we wanted to, I realised that the gate was closed.  Sheepishly I ambled over to a lady sitting outside and asked her if she worked there as I was in trouble.  I told her what I did and apologised profusely.  She laughed and said that lots of people do this.  I must just hoot when I get to the gate and she will open it for us.  Just another mishap to add to the rest.

We headed back to Sedgefield to pick up our carpet that was hopefully dry.  Rolled it up and put it into the back of van and we headed back to friends home for a comfy bed for the night.  Bought some chicken for dinner and headed to our friends home for the night. 

Fantastic evening of friendship and chatted for most of the night.  Headed off to bed to face a new day in the morning.